Punjab History, Culture and Geography
Physical frame
Punjab slopes from the Shiwalik foothills in the north-east (Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar) down to the semi-arid cotton belt of the south-west (Firozpur, Fazilka, Sri Muktsar Sahib). Three rivers still flow through Indian Punjab - Sutlej, Beas and Ravi - and the interfluves are called doabs: Bist (Beas–Sutlej), Bari (Beas–Ravi), and historically Rachna (Ravi–Chenab) and Chaj (Chenab–Jhelum).
Regions
Majha lies between the Ravi and the Beas (Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Pathankot). Doaba lies between the Beas and the Sutlej (Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr). Malwa is the tract south of the Sutlej - the largest region - holding Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda and Sangrur.
History anchors
Harappan remains at Ropar; Porus against Alexander at the Hydaspes in 326 BCE; Prithviraj Chauhan at the two battles of Tarain (1191 and 1192); Guru Nanak born in 1469 at Nankana Sahib; the Khalsa founded by Guru Gobind Singh at Anandpur Sahib in 1699; Banda Singh Bahadur's victory at Sirhind in 1710; Ranjit Singh taking Lahore in 1799 and dying in 1839; annexation after the Anglo-Sikh Wars in 1849; Jallianwala Bagh on 13 April 1919; the Punjabi Suba creating the present state on 1 November 1966.
Culture
Bhangra and Giddha, Jhumar and Sammi; Hola Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib, Baisakhi, the Kila Raipur rural sports; Phulkari embroidery, the Punjabi jutti and Hoshiarpur wood inlay.
Worked example
'Jalandhar lies in which doab?' The Beas runs to its north and the Sutlej to its south, so the answer is the Bist Doab.
Traps
Majha and Doaba are constantly swapped in options; Malwa is defined by the Sutlej, not the Beas; the Chenab and Jhelum no longer flow through India.